Group A “Power” Rankings

1. Russia – Pushed by Poland in a game they could have very well lost, Russia remains the best team in Group A. As threatening as Poland was, Russia still controlled how the game was played, even if Poland generated all the good open play chances.

2. Poland –Tuesday’s result was less about Russia coming back to earth than Poland playing (closer) to their potential. Against a Czech defense that got a pass against Greece (after being taken apart by Russia), Poland has a viable path to the quarterfinals.

3. Czech Republic – Given how bad Greece was, it’s hard to know how good the Czechs are. The potential loss of Tomas Rosicky will hurt, as the team may have to find a way to augment their wide play against a Poland team more defensively sound on the flanks. They only need a draw to go through, so while Poland appears to be a better team, the odds may be in the Czech Republic’s favor.

4. Greece – They still have a chance to go through, but a Saturday match against Russia presents a series of unfavorable matchups. As captain Giorgos Karagounis pinged the ball around the field in the second half against the Czech Republic, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for a highly decorated international forced to deal with another major tournament disappointment. (Don’t feel too sorry for him; he was a part of the team that won Euro 2004.)

Crystal Ball: What Need to Happen Next Round

Group D resumes play Saturday, with both matches kicking off simultaneously

Czech Republic vs. Poland

On Tuesday, Poland showed their last 60 minutes versus Greece were out of character. Call it nerves or inexperience or whether you want. Going blow-for-blow with the Russians showed their true quality.

It’s better than we’ve seen from the Czechs, even though the Czech Republic got three points from Greece (where Poland got one). Likely to be second-best in midfield while having their strength wide neutralized, the Czechs are finally going to have to answer their questions up top. How do they get something out of the striker position, where Milan Baros has been invisible? And what do they do behind the striker if Tomas Rosicky can’t go?

If you’re Poland, you have to assume that if you play your game (and play to your potential), you’ll go through. The Czech Republic’s defense was terrible versus Russia and untested versus Greece. You have to think you can take them.

Greece vs. Russia

Greece’s left side has been consistently exploited. Unless they make major changes, Alan Dzagoev and Aleksandr Anyukov are going to have big days. When Andrei Arshavin comes in from the left, Greece will be outnumbered in midfield, and with Avraam Papadopoulos out, they’ll be shorthanded in defense.

Even if they figured all that out, they have to find a way to win, which means solving their issues going forward. Goalkeeper errors have given them their two goals, and Vyacheslav Malafeev has been one of the tournament’s best `keepers.

Russia gets through with a draw, but they know they’ll avoid Germany (presumably) with a win. That’s incentive enough to avoid drawing.

They also have a question to answer at forward. Aleksandr Kerzhakov has been effective when acting like a false nine, but his inability to convert on Friday and Russia’s lack of chances on Tuesday will give Dick Advocaat pause.

Saturday may serve as a final chance for Kerzhakov. Advocaat may loathe the idea of 90 minutes of Pavlyuchenko, and he won’t want to break up the synergy another Zenit player provides. Still, if he doesn’t have an impact against Greece, the scales my tip against Kerzhakov.

PST’s Euro 2012 “More Powerful” Rankings

There’s no movement in out top eight today. Russia still showed enough to keep from falling, while Poland, for however much promise they’ve showed, has yet to take full points.

ProSoccerTalk is doing its best to keep you up to date on what’s going on in Poland and Ukraine. Check out the site’s Euro 2012 page and look at the site’s previews, predictions, and coverage of all the events defining UEFA’s championship.

Organizers of the North American bid to host the 2026 World Cup insist FIFA members have not expressed concern about President Donald Trump’s harsh words about foreigners or the U.S. Justice Department prosecuting corrupt soccer officials.

“Look, this is not geopolitics,” new U.S. Soccer Federation President Carlos Cordeiro said Monday during a conference call. “We’re talking about football and what fundamentally at the end of the day, what’s the best interests of football and our footballing community, and we’ve had no backlash. We’re very focused on the merits of our bid.”

A joint bid by the United States, Mexico and Canada was submitted to FIFA on Friday along with a proposal by Morocco. The 207 other members of the international soccer governing body will vote on June 13 in Moscow.

Cordeiro, Mexican Football Federation President Decio de Maria and Canadian Soccer Association President Steven Reed spoke from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where they were meeting with members of the Association of South East Asian Nations, a subset of the Asian Football Confederation.

A solo bid by the U.S. for the 2022 World Cup was favored going into the 2010 vote but lost to Qatar. FIFA then changed the vote rules to give the decision back to the entire membership, which chose hosts prior to 1986, when the choice started being made by the roughly two dozen members of its executive committee.

“We believe that the member associations are going to judge us on the quality of the bids, on the merits of our bid, and that’s it,” Reed said. “We’re very confident about what we’re putting forward, and I don’t think that we’re concerned about politics.”

Sixty games would be played in the U.S. under the bid plan, including all from the quarterfinals on. Three cities were included from Mexico and Canada, and both of those nations would host 10 games.

Holding a tournament in the U.S. would subject many of the documents generated to subpoena by U.S. federal prosecutors, who have secured numerous guilty pleas to corruption charges from soccer officials since 2015 and obtained convictions at trial last year against Juan Angel Napout, the former president of South American soccer’s governing body, and Jose Maria Marin, the former president of Brazil’s soccer federation.

“We haven’t had any of those concerns raised by any of the members that we’ve met so far,” Cordeiro said. “The reforms that FIFA undertook some years ago I think were spot on and we feel very confident that ultimately the right decision will be made.”

The North American bid proposed venues be selected from among 23 stadiums that exist or already are under construction, including three each in Mexico and Canada. Sixteen of the U.S. stadiums are sites of NFL teams.

“The split of matches that we have proposed to FIFA frankly reflects the resources of the three countries,” Cordeiro said. “We in the United States are blessed with some very substantial resources in terms of stadium infrastructure, of cities and so on, and that reflects the 60 matches that we have on the table. But at the end of the day there is a reason why FIFA have asked for or have encouraged joint bids and we do think that our joint bids taken together provide for a vastly superior bid than our competition.”

Between injuries, international call ups and a suspension, the LA Galaxy could be without as many as 10 players this weekend.

Ola Kamara, Romain Alessandrini and Giovani dos Santos are among the notable names likely to be absent for Saturday’s match against the Vancouver Whitecaps, but seven more players could be left unavailable for Sigi Schmid’s squad.

Kamara was the latest player to be named to his respective national team, with the striker being called up to Norway on Monday.

Meanwhile, both Giovani and Jonathan dos Santos have earned call ups to Mexico, and Emrah Klimenta has been selected by Montenegro for its next friendlies against Cyprus and Turkey.

Both Dos Santos brothers are battling injuries of their own, so they may not feature for El Tri, but that won’t necessarily help the Galaxy either as they are kept sidelined.

Of the ten players possibly missing the Whitecaps match, five of them (Michael Ciani, Cole, Gio dos Santos, J. dos Santos and Kamara) started in the Galaxy’s last game — a 2-1 loss to New York City FC.

Eden Hazard has long been a Madrid target, and with the Belgium international seemingly more and more interested by a move away from Stamford Bridge, the veteran attacker could see himself join Real after the World Cup in Russia.

According to Spanish outlet Diario Gol, Real could secure a move for Hazard this summer, while sending young attacker Marco Asensio to Chelsea.

While hypothetical at this point, the move makes sense for both clubs, particularly from a Blues perspective as they look for young attacking players.

The 22-year-old Asensio has been seeking regular minutes at Madrid, and with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale regularly included in the starting squad, that has been nearly impossible for the Spanish international.

Meanwhile, Real would be gaining another incredibly talented attacking piece to go along with Ronaldo and Bale, although the latter has been linked with a move away from the Santiago Bernabeu for some time.

Real has also been strongly linked with a move for Paris Saint-Germain winger Neymar, who has spent less than a season in France.

It’s a ways away from happening, but a front three of Hazard, Ronaldo and Neymar would certainly make El Clasico even more intriguing than usual, with Real facing off against a Barcelona squad that currently boasts Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho.

Striker Andrija Novakovich earned his first call up on Sunday when U.S. manager Dave Sarachan named the Telstar player in his squad, which will play the South American side on March 27 in Cary, North Carolina.

The 21-year-old forward has been nothing short of brilliant in his first season with the Dutch second-division club, scoring 18 league goals for Telstar — who sit fourth in the Eerste Divisie.

“It’s a good feeling to get the call-up and hopefully it will be a very good experience,” Novakovich said. “They [the U.S. national team] sent the club and myself an email saying that I was on the preliminary roster and we were just waiting, and then this week I got another email saying I was on the final roster.

“I called my Mum right away and she’s proud, she’s happy.

“I’m just there for the experience — of course I want to play, of course I want to get the opportunity and hopefully that will happen, It’s an honour to be called up and I’m very proud and very happy.”

Novakovich, a Wisconsin native, is currently on loan at Telstar from English Championship side Reading.

The young USMNT player moved to England back in 2014 to join Reading’s academy, despite originally planning on playing for Marquette University following high school.

Despite this being his first senior-team call up, Novakovich is familiar with the U.S. national team setup. Novakovich has previously represented the Under-17, U-18 and U-20 national teams.